Utah Part I

On Thursday afternoon we drove from SD to Las Vegas. It was a pretty smooth drive, though neither boys slept during the five hours. We stayed at the Rio, which has very large rooms. There was a Chippendale's poster up in the hotel and one of the models had shoulder-length brown hair. Austin said, "Look, Jesus!" Oh man. That's pretty bad. 

The next morning we headed on the next leg of our trek. The boys did a really good job, though hardly sleeping again. We finally stopped at a Cafe Rio in Spanish Fork. After McDonald's for breakfast and dinner the night before, nothing had every tasted so good. Austin referred to it as Donald Duck's. haha. The boys sure did treasure their happy meal toys, and for that I was grateful. 

But Cafe Rio... mmmmmmmmm. 

 The boys were soooo patient in the car. Parker hardly complained. He is such a dear these days. After lunch we went to run around BYU. We also drove by where we used to live and other favorite memory places.

 Then we drove the rest of the way to Salt Lake City. We checked into our room, which I thought had a door dividing the living area from the bed... ideal conditions for travelling with little ones who won't sleep if they can still see you! Well... no door. Thankfully they let us cancel the rest of our reservation after one night and we checked into a Residence in with TWO rooms. So luxurious.

 On Friday we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse (oh sweet, heavenly rolls) with Grandma Joyce and Aunt Shauna. We hadn't seen them in a year and a half. It was wonderful. The boys loved making Grandma shell the peanuts for them. They loved their hot dog and fries, and Pete and I split chicken fried steak. Grandma Joyce ordered a salmon dish, that ended up being under cooked, so she sent it back and they replaced it with a whole new meal. In addition, they took her meal off the bill. This all happened after Pete offered to pay for everyone's meal, so she ended up being a cheap date:)

Saturday we went out to visit Grandma Ruth who is now in a nursing home. More on that later, but it was the most wonderful visit.

Then we went to a park by Grandma Joyce's house and then celebrated Pete's Uncle Dave's birthday at Chow Time. Utah people sure do like their buffets! This large restaurant was just down the center from Buffet City. He was very nice to treat all of us. Parker ate tortilla chips and fries. I guess that's the beauty of a buffet.

Sunday morning we went to church in Salt Lake where Pete's cousin blessed her baby. It's the first daughter in the family with four other boys, so it was a very special day. My boys loved playing with all of the boy second-cousins. So fun to see them together. After that we made the rounds to various other family members...

Uncle Gary and Aunt Stacey just moved into a new home. The boys made themselves comfy on the couch.

Then we went over to Pete's cousin Erika's house. She had a baby 5 days ago, so it was amazing she even invited us in. We got to hold her new tiny baby. So cute. And the boys loved playing with her dog and cat. 

 They also loved the bath that night. They could play forever in there.

 Monday morning said our goodbyes to Grandma Joyce who we love to pieces, and made one last stop at the Hawkes's home. Alexis (high school friend) was visiting her family from Germany where she lives with her two little ones and Army helicopter-flying husband. It was fun to get to talk to them about their life. She is so strong, and will be staying with her family for a while while her husband is deployed starting next week. She'll even have a baby in his absence. I was so impressed with her strength and good attitude.

 Then we headed for home. We made a few stops for meals and made it home at midnight. We could have broken up the drive again, but we were just ready to be home in our own beds. We left later in the day hoping they would sleep. Parker did nap a bit, but then didn't fall asleep until 10:00pm. Austin fell asleep around 7:00pm.

My camera isn't uploading properly right now, but I have other good photos that will have to be saved for another post. I'm so glad we were able to get up there and visit everyone we did. We miss them already.